32 mentioned a couple of things in another thread, but there's a bunch of things we have to consider before the game. We're already talking about Ezeli vs. Bogut and Iguodala guarding Curry, but theres a couple of other things I want to talk about.

Bogut is going to have A LOT on his plate this series. The first thing I want to touch on is Denver's offensive rebounding. I haven't been keeping up with the Nuggets and I don't know whether or not if Farried has a mid-range game, but I think Bogut should open up on him. Farried is definitely a lot quicker than Bogut, but my hopes is that Bogut can keep him off the boards. This may create another disadvantage if Lee has to box out Koufos, but I just don't see Lee being able to contain Farried's offensive board game.

Another thing about Denver is that they get their buckets inside the paint. Bogut has to come up big for us in terms of protecting the key. Ezeli has to come up big too, but I'm assuming that Bogut will play majority of the minutes at the 5.

Lastly, Bogut has to keep up. This entire series is going to be up and down. Don't have to mention the altitude because everyone knows thats why Denver has the best home record, but this is also going to affect how long and effective Bogut is going to be.

It'll also be very interesting to see how we counter an Iguodala on Curry matchup. If this happens and Lawson switches to Thompson, he absolutely has to be able to take advantage of that matchup. I'm not just talking about posting him up and being able to make shots either. It is imperative that he is able to recognize double teams and be a playmaker as well because that's exactly what's going to happen when he backs down Lawson. The good news is that Thompson has shown he can do both. Let's hope he does it in this series.

These are some of the more obvious things. Jack and Landry has to be spectacular. These two cannot miss a beat. Denver is deep as hell and we have to be able to keep up with them when their starters come off the floor. It would be a HUGE bonus if Barnes can contribute big in some of these games.

Firstly, a lotta luck. Denver demolishes everybody on their home floor (where they have the seeding advantage against us), they eat up lazy turnovers (and we commit a lot), they score a ton of points inside (and our main rim-protector, Bogut, still isn't 100%), they have the coaching experience, they have the playoff experience, their best player (Lawson) is finally healthy, and they have more depth than maybe any other team in the Western Conference (besides San Antonio). So a lotta that has to somehow slide into our favor; we're obviously going to need to find a way to win in their house, we need to figure out how to curb our turnoveritus, we need to find a way to bottleneck their inside points (be it Bogut, a zone, a combination of big defensive games from rookies, etc)... Just, a whole lotta luck needs to be on our side.

That being said, Kenneth Faried isn't healthy. He'll likely miss Game 1, according to the Nugget's fan board, and who knows how well he'll play after that (a hustle/effort guy on a bum leg can be way less effective than a smart/skill player who can find ways to play around injuries). Plus, Danillo Gallinari, the ONLY reason we had to break our zone in Games 2 and 4, won't play. So Denver will be without their best outside scoring threat.

They rank 25th in three-point percentage and 20th in defending the three, so our biggest strength is there for the taking.

We need huge nights from Lee AND Curry, in tandem. Lee needs to be our method of trading buckets inside: Denver simply can't run away with the points-in-the-paint or the series is over. I'm not saying we need to win that category, but it's gotta be closer than a blow-out, and Lee is our catalyst to doing that. On top of that, Curry and Thompson embody our biggest advantage, which is the long ball. If either (preferably, both) of them get hot, we have an equalizer to Denver's damn near automatic inside scoring.

Defensively, you cram the middle. Make the Nuggets beat you from outside. With Gallo out, the Warriors pretty much just need to worry about Wilson Chandler's 41%, because after that there's no one on the Nuggets that'll make more than a mid-30's percentile from deep. The Nuggets know this and they wont simply surrender their inside assault or give up trying to punch the ball inside; it has to be nuts-on, balls to the wall defense from start to finish. Ezeli and Bogut better be ready to use all 6 of their fouls EVERY game.

Denver has over-relied upon Andre Miller for the majority of the season as a playmaker. If you can figure out a way to take him off his spots and keep him on the outside (doubtful), he can be neutralized. There's no one else on Denver that can orchestrate the offense like Miller; not even Lawson (even though their fans are delusionally sticking to their guns about Lawson being a better player than Curry ). I'll take my chances with Lawson running the show over Miller 7 days a week.

That being said outside of Iggy the perimeter defense gives up three point bombs. Their defensive strategy (very effective) is to bait teams into going inside and dominating the paint with their athleticism. Elite paint defense from them.

If Faried's injured and not playing in Game 1, that's a golden opportunity to win one there. That's Denver's rebounding hurt, as well as energy and interior defense. Lee has got to score big and Bogut somewhat as well. Landry has got to feast inside as well. Real opportunity.

As I said in another thread, the team's got to rebound with them at least, if not outrebound and box out, very key. Even slow the game down a bit so it's fundamentals and shooting over running, giving it to us.

We are the best defensive rebounding team in the league and they are the best offensive rebounding team in the league. I am not sure how it will go down without Faried, but I believe we can win the glass battle.

Game 1 is the best chance at winning a road game this series. Some might say our only chance.

Not the only chance, but Faried isn't playing, the best chance for sure. The team has the tools to rebound and slow the Denver second chance points and also think offensively, our bigs are far more polished and skilled.